General Question

Why does my puppy keep doing this? HELP!

So I just got a puppy a week ago. I had a beagle for 12 years, but I was only like 4 when we got her so I wasn’t the one to train her and this is all kind of new to me. My new puppy is a Sheltie named Bailey and she is 11 weeks old. We are in the process of potty training her. I am very consistent with letting her out, but it seems I am standing out there for at least half an hour (which is not good because it is now winter). Even if she goes potty outside, she will still come in and pee again or poop. It seems that she just won’t go outside. We scold her when we see her go inside also, how long will it take for her to be potty trained and am I doing anything wrong?

13 Answers

Changes in temperature affect all animals… even humans… it’s like when a child walks from the inside to the cold outside (or from the cold to the warm inside); then they really have to go.. try an evenly heated area for your puppies business… it should get better with experience

Have you done the house training method yet and I agree with the person above me too,it’s very cold.A lot of people must know about a puppy and learn some stuff,especially training them before you bring a puppy into your life,just like a human baby.If you don’t do any of those stuff honestly for a while,that puppy may most likely will feel like they can do what they want including peeing and pooping in the house when ever they feel like it.

I have a dog and I know but I don’t think it’s too late to solve this problem.As you try to do the house training method(it may really take some time when she gets used to it and gets the idea of doing her buisness) buy some pee pee puppy pads on the floor so she can urinate and poop on instead of all over your house.You should also get a book about this too or even look up online about this to understand this and help you too,inlcuding on the type of breed you have since sometimes it depends on the breed you have.

Too,you should create a schedule to walk your puppy so the puppy may not want to pee or poop later on.Try not to mix it up the schedule a lot because it will just do it whenever it wants or just get confused when to do so.

Shelties are usually easy. Get a small crate, keep her in it when you cannot be watching with a hawk eye. Most dogs, if they have been raised in a clean environment, are very fastidious and will not mess their own quarters. Therefore the advantage of a crate. As soon as you let her out of the crate, immediately take her outside. If she doesn’t go, when you bring her back in, you must either watch her every movement so you can catch her when she starts to show signs of getting ready and then whisk her outside. If you can watch then back into the crate for another 10 minutes. When you get her to go outside, praise in a way that you would be embarrassed if anyone saw. I also believe in a harsh word when they have an accident inside, if they aren’t told they are doing something wrong, how will they learn. In my mind, this is not the time for positive reinforcement type training alone.

Repeat until the lesson is learned. (also google crate training, I probably forgot some details)

We got her from some breeders. Amazing people. They have at least 8 shelties, another puppy, and a very pregnant sheltie. They really care about those dogs (they also have a scottie and a weenier dog). Both are retired. Here is their website

Just a helpful thought- when you take her outside, keep telling her to “go potty” (or whatever words you’d like to use), praise her when she goes, and walk with her for a minute even after she goes. Doing so, you can teach her to go on command, since her outside time doesn’t end as soon as she goes.

@babybear1740If you don’t, she will learn she can only be outside until she pees… So, if she wants to be outside, she will wait to pee. I ran into that problem with my first dog. The trainer I was seeing made that suggestion, and it’s proved helpful for subsequent dogs and for others I’ve told. Just a thoguht. :)

I am a professional dog trainer. What you are experiencing is a common problem for dog owners. Some dogs are very easy to train, and others very difficult. Female dogs tend to take longer when going to the bathroom when brought outside than male dogs. So don’t get frustrated.

The most important thing is to keep her on a leash or in the crate at all times for awhile. Dogs generally won’t go to the bathroom in a crate or anywhere near they are restricted. If she is going in the crate, it is too big for her. For housetraining it should be only big enough for her to stand up and turn around. Bring her out every 15 minutes until she goes. You don’t have to stay out for too long. Give her maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Once she goes, you can wait longer to bring her out the next time.

The general rule is that a dog should only be expected to wait to go to the bathroom in its age in months, plus 1. So it the dog is 11 weeks old like your is, it is 2 months old now, so it should only wait 3 hours. So don’t wait longer than that. That is for the night time, too. So don’t expect her to last 8 hours until she is 7 months old.

If you catch her going to the bathroom in the house, give her a slight verbal correction, for example, “No!” and quickly bring her outside. Always praise her when she goes to the bathroom outside.

If you can go several days without an accident, you can start to give her more freedom. If she has more accidents again, tether her on leash or crate her again at all times for a few more days until she starts to get it again.

You should expect to continue to have occasional accidents until a dog is at least 4 months. Just be patient and your dog will get it.

What @jmbnjcl said, plus one thing. I have found that taking the puppy back to the place in the yard where she has peed/pooped before is a good reminder to her that that is what she should be doing there. Have fun with your pup, shelties are great dogs!